Credited by the Wall Street Journal as the 20th Century Watershed image that transformed wedding photography forever.
September 21, 1996 John F. Kennedy jr and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy were married in a private ceremony off the coast of Georgia on Cumberland Island in a tiny wooden chapel, the First African Baptist Church.
Denis Reggie says his tiny company had four weddings that night all over the country.
So he worked it out where he could fly down himself. He just wrote Jacksonville, which is where he flew to.
Denis states, little did he know that photo would take on a life of it's own. .. Cover of Life Magazine, photo of the year.
So his Mission was,
- One Picture. . .Tell the Story of the Secret, Private Wedding to the World.
- He brought it to the Associated Press in Atlanta to bring it up to the Satellites and the rest is history.
So for all of his world wide acclaim, Mr. Reggie will always be associated with Cumberland Island and JFKjr. and his wife.
Denis Reggie's photos are now part of the permanent collection at the National Museum of American History.
Thank you 11 Alive for doing a bit on this.
Denis Reggie: The photographer who changed wedding photography on his most memorable photo
It all started in Louisiana as a teenager when he just wanted to play football. Lacking immediately apparent sporting talent and, presumably, sturdy enough thumbs (some "issue with ligaments," the family doctor proclaimed), an injury prompted redirection of his passion. Undeterred, he took up the camera and relegated Friday nights to the sidelines of his high school's football games. With long lens and a reporter's perspective, he honed his talent for capturing fleeting moments in real time without ever speaking a word. By 17, a keen eye and sense of anticipation had served him and his small town newspaper well in chronicling pinnacle action from the shadows.
Denis still spends weekends on the sidelines but nowadays at festive weddings of all sizes intently searching for revealing moments. Seeking obscurity, he dresses the part of a guest and quietly moves about on a mission of discovery. He pioneered his art and named it wedding photojournalism.
Carolyn Bessette,
- Born in White Plains, New York, in 1966.
- She was the youngest child of William J. Bessette, a cabinet maker, and Ann Messina, an administrator in the New York City public school system.
- She had two older sisters, twins Lauren and Lisa
Bessette's parents divorced when she was very young. Her mother later remarried Richard Freeman, an orthopedic surgeon, and moved to Old Greenwich, Connecticut.
Bessette attended Juniper Hill Elementary School where her mother taught as a substitute teacher.
Bessette later attended St. Mary's High School.[6] At St. Mary's, Bessette was voted by her classmates the "Ultimate Beautiful Person." During her high school experience, Bessette was described as being part of the "in crowd" and having attended "all the right parties."
After graduating from high school in 1983, Bessette attended Boston University's School of Education,graduating in 1988 with a degree in elementary education.
Bessette briefly attempted a modelling career, and hired a professional photographer to take pictures for her portfolio. Although her modelling career did not prove to be profitable, she did appear on the cover of Boston University's calendar, "The Girls of B.U."
After college and until her marriage to Kennedy, Bessette worked for Calvin Klein Ltd., a high-end American fashion house. During her successful career there, she went from being a saleswoman at the Chestnut Hill Mall in the town of Newton, Massachusetts to becoming the director of publicity for the company's flagship store in Manhattan.
While working for Klein in Boston, Bessette was noticed by Susan Sokol, a travelling sales coordinator for the company.[8] Sokol, impressed with Bessette's grace and style, later recommended her for a position dealing with Klein's high-profile clients, such as actress Annette Bening and newscaster Diane Sawyer.
By the time she left Calvin Klein, she was the Director of Show Productions earning a salary in the low six figures.
Bessette first met Kennedy in 1992, while he was dating actress Daryl Hannah. Bessette and Kennedy began dating in 1994 and became a popular paparazzi target, and gossip columns detailed where they ate and shopped, and even covered their arguments. Paparazzi often waited outside the couple's Tribeca apartment to snap photographs.
Bessette was introduced to John's uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, in the late summer of 1994. Following the marriage, the senator would tell the press: "You could tell right away that there was something special between the two of them."
She quit her job at Calvin Klein in the spring of 1996.
Kennedy and Bessette succeeded in keeping their September 21, 1996, wedding a secret from the press, avoiding media onlookers.
The bride selected the then-little-known designer Narciso Rodriguez of Cerruti for her wedding dress of pearl-white crepe. The groom's older sister, Caroline Kennedy, was matron of honor, and Anthony Radziwill, the son of his aunt Lee Radziwill-Ross, served as Kennedy's best man.
JFKjr.'s sister Caroline's two daughters, Tatiana and Rose, were flower girls, and her son Jack was the ring bearer. The couple honeymooned in Turkey.
Anthony Radziwill and JFKjr. vacationed in Montauk at the Andy Warhol Compound called Eothen and it is the summer a movie was shot with JFKjr.'s great aunt known as Big Edie and his second cousin Little Edie. JFKjr. was part of the movie.
That Summer - Official Trailer I HD I IFC Films
You can see his aunt and other celebrities in the trailer above. She was also known as Princess Lee Radziwill (Jackie's sister so a Bouvier) as she was once married to Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł.
Prince Radziwill was a Polish nobleman and a scion of the Polish-Lithuanian princely House of Radziwiłł.
Through his father, Stanislaw Albrecht was second cousin twice removed of Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, wife of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
See more information on the Bouvier family history here,
Bessette-Kennedy was badly disoriented by the constant attention from the paparazzi.
For example,
The couple was permanently on show, both at fashionable Manhattan events and on their travels to visit celebrities such as Mariuccia Mandelli and Gianni Versace.
Carolyn told her friend, Carole Radziwill, that the only way to avoid the paparazzi was to leave her apartment at 7 in the morning.
She also complained to her friend, journalist Jonathan Soroff, that she could not get a job without being accused of exploiting her fame. Her minimalist fashion sense was chronicled by various fashion publications and drew repeated comparisons to her mother-in-law, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Carole Radziwill wife of Anthony Radziwill She has seen a great deal during her lifetime and career!
Carole Radziwill began her news career at ABC in New York, in 1985, as an intern in postproduction for 20/20, a news magazine show.
She was later assigned to Close Up as a production secretary. Radziwill eventually worked for Peter Jennings' documentary unit, producing shows on abortion and gun control, and covering foreign policy stories in Cambodia, Haiti, and India.
In 1991, Radziwill was stationed in Iraq and reported on the SCUD missile attacks during the Gulf War. In 2003
during the War in Afghanistan, she spent six weeks in Kandahar, embedded with an infantry unit of the 101st Airborne Division.
She produced segments for an ABC-TV show called Profiles from the Frontline. Radziwill has won several awards, including three Emmys, one for a story she produced on land mines in Cambodia, a Peabody, and a GLAAD award.
After her husband's death, Radziwill left ABC News to write a memoir about her personal life, her career at ABC News, as well as her effort to manage her husband's cancer. What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship and Love (Scribner, 2005) made the New York Times Best Seller List.
Anthony Radziwill for a short refresher had become,
was a Swiss-born American television executive and filmmaker.
Anthony Radziwiłł's career began at NBC Sports, as an associate producer.
During the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he contributed Emmy Award-winning work.
In 1989, he joined ABC News as a television producer for Primetime Live.
he won the Peabody Award for an investigation on the resurgence of Nazism in the United States.
Posthumously, Cancer: Evolution to Revolution was awarded a Peabody.
Radziwiłł was the best man for the wedding of his best friend and cousin John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
Radziwiłł died on August 10, 1999 not quite a month after JFKjr., Carolyn and Lauren disappeared as their plane went down on July 16, 1999.
Much is mapped out in here in just under 13min. with many connections and tie ins,
IT'S BEEN A LONG ROAD! THE MONTAUK CONNECTION! HAVE YOU SEEN THE SCRIPT?
As stated in Your Tango,
Wonder why the video has been removed or is unavailable. That's interesting.
Interesting wording from the Washington Post,
What are your thoughts about JFKjr. Carolyn, Lauren, the Bouvier and Kennedy families?
Please let me know in the comments below.
Facebook Frames Post here,
https://www.facebook.com/melissa.mcgarity.14/posts/10222565322776307
Evidence that after receiving a 30 day censorship sentence on FB for trying to share vetted information over the Biden family and documented evidence from the White House, when allowed back on. . .they Still will not allow me to share to groups that are Like Minded and that I have been invited and asked to share to.
Documenting and archiving for evidence.
Sources,
https://www.denisreggie.com/meet-denis/
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/explore/explorers-of-light/explorer-denis-reggie/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/58195020170247938/
https://news.amomama.com/162499-ny-post-inside-carolyn-bessettes-sister.html
https://www.tatler.com/article/who-was-lauren-bessette
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/jfkjr/stories/bessette071999.htm